The hockey world is relatively small. There are only so many coahcing jobs to go around and the same people generally get the same positions over and over again, just with different teams each time. Today one former NHL coach took that trend to another level when he agreed to go to Mannheim Germany.
It seems as though Eakins will likely serve as a temporary head coach as his main job will be to serve as Alder Mannheim's general manager. As a result, we will likely see him select a new head coach to take over behind the bench at the end of this season so that he can spend all his time focusing on running the team.
Eakins has 404 games of experience as a head coach in the NHL. His overall record is 136-210-58 for a .410 points percentage. Those numbers certainly are not great so perhaps he is better suited for a front office role anyway. However, it must be noted that Eakins has not had the best teams to work with as a coach, so some of that criticism is a but unfair.